Alone Together
by wedryfullofit
Summary: Fred Weasley and Hermione Granger never looked twice at each other. A chaotic encounter at Weasley's Wizard Wheezes make the two realize just how nervous the other makes them. How about some Fremione? (Chapter 1 revised, and Chapter 2 up! Working on Chapter 3 soon. )
1. Understanding

Although Christmas at the Weasley household was not known for being quiet and relaxing, this year had turned out to be particularly taxing on Hermione. She had opted not to go home for the Holidays to spend time with Harry and Ron, and Mrs. Weasley had opened her home to Hermione without a second thought. Mrs. Weasley jumped at every opportunity to have "girl time", so while Hermione had planned on spending time studying and relaxing, she had spent more time with Mrs. Weasley. Today, she, Ginny, and Mrs. Weasley had gone out for some shopping. New clothes for Mrs. Weasley, new Quidditch gear for Ginny, and for Hermione, books she had been meaning to get for sometime. Despite the fact that Hogwarts had proven to have every book she had ever wanted, she got them in hopes of being able to read them over break. As they made their way around Diagon Alley, Hermione took interest in the hustle around her, watching magical folk complete their Christmas shopping. Around the same time that Hagrid put up the school's trees, the shop owners of Diagon Alley put up their decorations. Lights sparkled and floated gracefully in the air, not dangling from wire like Hermione saw at home. It looked like all colors of fireflies had coordinated, lazily hanging in the air with hundreds of others. Diagon Alley, which was normally quite dreary for Hermione's taste, was given this whole new cheery demeanor. The girls walked on for some time, visiting store after store, mostly just to look around. It wasn't until they stopped at a small cafe that Mrs. Weasley realized she had forgotten a bag back at a previous store, which gave Hermione and Ginny a chance to verbalize their exasperation.

"How're you holding up?" Ginny asked. She knew Hermione's pain. Her mother meant well, but could sometimes be a little overbearing, and poor Hermione, who had never seen it coming.

"Yeah, I'm fine. It helps that I know these books will be brilliant." Hermione gave a smile, but then sighed. "I haven't studied at all. I feel so... unprepared." She sipped an unfamiliar brew from the cafe and instantly the warmth ran through her.

Sympathetically, Ginny nodded. "Well when we get back, I'm going to see if everyone wants to play some Quidditch. With all this new gear I'm sure I can catch the snitch before Harry." She smiled wide, patting the bags next to her. This season, Ginny had made it her mission to beat the boys in Quidditch, though Hermione suspected that Ginny possibly wanted to impress one boy in particular. She smiled to herself, but before she could respond, Mrs. Weasley had returned with her bags.

"Well girls, our stomachs are full and I'm not sure how much more I can carry." Molly motioned towards her several bags. She had gotten clothes for herself and, of course, more Christmas presents for everyone. "How about we head back?"

"Actually," Ginny spoke up. "I was hoping to stop by the twins' shop." The twins hadn't been home for the Holidays yet, as they were still having Christmas sales. It was planned that today would be their last day for the season, and would be coming home tonight. "I want to pick up some things to bring back to school." Mrs. Weasley loved the idea, of course, and they started to make their way to the shop, with a slightly exasperated Hermione trailing just a bit behind.

Weasely's Wizard Wheezes was no exception to the decoration of Diagon Alley, but where others' decorations minimal and classic, the Weasley store was every bit as eccentric and chaotic as the inside of the store. Built into the entrance of the store was the same giant man as before, but instead of being in the likeness of Fred and George, he looked more like Albus Dumbledore. From the large man's chin, a long beard flowed down, just barely landing an inch above the ground. The only way to determine that the statue was not, in fact, Dumbledore, was by the Father Christmas hat, resting on his head. Hermione laughed at the sight, and followed Mrs. Weasley and Ginny into the store. All around her things were moving and popping and whizzing and cooing. The girls separated, Molly to find the twins, Ginny to find some prank items, and Hermione to kill time. It was as she was looking at the nose biting tea-cups that Fred Weasley gave her a scare. "Should I be on the lookout for the cheapskate I call my little brother?" His voice had boomed, so loud that Hermione jumped, hit one of the tea cups, and got her finger bitten. "Oh blimey, sorry!" Fred removed a small item from his lapel, and placed it into his pocket. "It's a prototype. It projects voices towards the closest person, but for some reason it just yells. How's your finger?"

"Oh it's fine. It just stung." Hermione smiled up at Fred. "Ron isn't here, just me, Ginny and your mom. 'Girl time'." The last words she had said with a sigh. It really wasn't that she didn't like spending time with them, she just needed some time to sit down and relax.

"You got roped into that, eh? No worries, Granger. Tonight, George and I will be back to keeping our mother on her toes." He winked, and Hermione laughed.

"What time are you two coming tonight?"

"Actually, we were thinking about closing up now. Let me go find George, try not to get bit again, huh?" Fred walked away with that undeniably trademark smirk, and as he finally turned a corner out of sight, Hermione surprised herself by relaxing. For some reason she had tensed up while talking to Fred. Had she always done that? Getting her thoughts in order, she was so preoccupied she never even heard a voice yell for her to duck.

There was a cartoonishly loud 'BANG' and then a pain in her arm. A display in front of her toppled over, sending its contents to the ground, and in the middle, flopping around, was a small Aviatomobile, a small flying car. "That'll be 3 sickles and 11 knuts you bloody idiot! That's not even counting that display! Let's hope you didn't break anything, you sodding git!" George yelled, and while he went to handle the customer, Fred went to Hermione.

"I leave you alone for one minute!" He said, and grabbed Hermione's arm. It was nothing too bad, just some blood and potential bruising.

"Do you have any bandages, and that bruise cream? What even happened?" As she spoke, Fred was beginning to lead her towards the back of the store.

"Looks like he tried to cast something on the aviatomobile. How many times do we have to tell people not to try to cast anything on our products? Especially that thing!" As Fred spoke, his annoyance took the place of his normal mischief. "That git better have the money..."

Shortly, they reached the backroom. "Stay here in the office while I find something to help. This time, really, try not to get hurt." Hermione smiled, and took in her surroundings. It was a green room, and looked much like The Burrow in decoration. She was sat on one particularly orange couch, and directly across from her was a large wooden desk, buried in items from the store and paper. On the walls were what seemed like hundreds of pictures. The Weasley family giggled on the wall, from Egypt or the Americas. Everything else in the room just looked like clutter ranging from broken broomsticks small statues of sickly looking cats. When Fred returned after some time, his smirk returned. "I suppose that this time I can give you these things free of charge."

"Oh, thank you so much for the exception." She cooed sarcastically back. Noticing the store had gone quiet since Fred had returned, she looked towards the door. "Where is everyone?" She asked. Mostly she was surprised that Mrs. Weasley hadn't found her yet, to look over her arm's wound.

"We closed up shop and I told 'em to head home. It's not going to take too long to put you back together and Ginny said she wanted to play some Quidditch. I reckon you'll have to thank Ginny when we get back." Hermione let out another last sigh, and was relieved. "Anyway, we better fix you up." He said, and began to unwind the bandages. As Hermione removed her jumper, Fred froze, for just a split second, before regaining composure.

Hermione hadn't noticed, and held her arm out. "I thought you two only sold prank items." She said. "Bandages and bruise cream seem a little out of your jurisdiction."

Fred began to mend her. "You'd think that, but even the two greatest minds of their generation have to follow Ministry guidelines. They told us we'd have to also provide remedies for most of our products, otherwise we wouldn't be able to sell to school age kids."

Hermione nodded. "At least the Ministry is right about something." Her tone was bittersweet, and Fred sighed in agreement.

"George and I were surprised they managed to recognize our store, considering everything must look like arse after their heads being misplaced for so long." The two smiled, and Fred began to wrap her arm.

"Alright we're done!" He put a final knot in the bandage and stood up. "Let me make sure everything is good with the store and then let's head back." After setting the display back up and closing the shop, Fred gave a farewell wave to the Albus Dumbledore statue, and they went on their way.

"That room back there," Hermione started. "It looked familiar."

"It should. It's an exact replica of a part of the Burrow." He smiled, and they crossed the road, Fred unthinkingly and lightly grabbing Hermione's arm. "What made you want to spend time with us for Christmas?" Fred asked.

"Well, my parents said they'd be spending time with some extended family this year, but that would have involved a lot of traveling and whatnot. I thought it would be more relaxing for me to stay and study, but-" Hermione was cut off.

"But little did you know." Fred said, laughing. "Yeah, mum enjoys to spend time with other girls when she's got it. I suppose you could blame me and George for that, for giving her so much trouble." The twins' mischievous behaviour did not end at the Weasley doorway. Their poor mother, who put in so much effort trying to reel them in.

Hermione laughed. "I could blame you but, you know, Ron's not much better. Not even Percy-" She stopped. How stupid of her to forget. She looked up at Fred's face, which had switched from smirking to gritting his teeth. "Sorry, I didn't mean..." Percy disowning the family had been hard on everyone, especially Molly, and still very much a sore subject.

"It's okay. If that git wants to choose the Ministry over us, that's okay." Fred went back to his smirk. "Though, try not to mention it around mum. Anyway, we're here." When the two of them apparated into the Weasley fireplace, George was waiting for them.

"It's about time you two! Everyone's gone outside for some Quidditch, and Harry said something about football. Do you know anything about this Hermione?" George and Fred exchanged subtle looks, but Hermione didn't notice.

"I haven't ever played, but I was planning on studying anyway. Let everyone know I'm okay!" Hermione gave a small smile and a nod towards Fred.

"Suit yourself." George said, and went to stand by his twin. As soon as Hermione was gone, Fred got an elbow in the ribs. "What was that all about?" Fred sighed and shrugged, but after a few seconds of George waiting for a reply, he shrugged again.

Ginny's room was small and every inch of wall decorated with pictures of Quidditch players and bands. Hermione was sharing a room with her, and had been given a small bed and a space for her trunk. She opened the trunk and searched for her school books and began to work on homework. This task proved to be more difficult than usual while her thoughts focused more on Fred Weasley than school. She went over their conversations in her head, smiling in recollection. Her face began to burn as she thought about him, appreciating how nice he had been. Feeling like this about Fred was a new occurrence, having spent most of her time around him in the company of at least Harry and Ron. She sighed, laid her quill down, and flopped onto her back. She had never gotten these feelings for anyone, not even Viktor Krum.

The knock at the door came quite unexpectedly. Hermione jolted straight up on her bed. "Yes?" She expected Molly Weasley, checking on her. Instead, the voice on the other side of the door made her stomach to back flips.

"You decent?" Fred said. Hermione scrambled to smooth her hair and look presentable.

"Yeah, come in!" She yelled back. Shocked by her lack of ability to control the volume of her voice, she sighed.

He opened the door with a laugh. "Hey there Granger. Wanted to check in on you and make sure you were doing okay. That bruise cream should be kicking in soon." The tall, handsome ginger stood in the doorway, leaning against it casually.

"I'm fine." She said, acutely aware of controlling her voice. "Why aren't you outside playing? You'd love football, I'd bet."

"Nah, I wasn't too interested." He made his way towards the bed. "Muggle games sounds more like my dad's cup of tea. I told George to keep his eye out for anything we might be able to sell." He was sitting on the bed, close to Hermione, and winked. Fred saw Hermione blush, something she had never done before today. She could feel how close he was, and his warmth. She wanted to say something clever but her mind was caught up in the electricity that was shooting between them. "So how is your arm?" The silence that hung in the air was cut down by his voice, and Hermione tried to pinpoint what was so new about the same Fred Weasley.

"It feels okay." It didn't feel like anything, she couldn't feel anything about her body except for how much it was burning up. "It's fine." She reiterated. Fred moved closer to her. Fred raised his hand, and brushed a fallen piece of hair behind her ear, and lingered. Hermione had never felt a touch as intense as this, and froze in the moment.

They could hear the roaring of people as the front door to the house flew open. She could make out Ron and Harry in particular yelling "Weasley is our King!" and Ginny ran into her room, covered in mud. Fred had already jolted up. "Football!" Ginny yelled. "How are you supposed to play football!? I was ready to seek and then we're all chasing the same ball?" She yelled, annoyed. Ginny paid little attention to how alone Hermione and Fred had been.

"Little sister, did you get beat by the king himself?" Fred tried to replicate his normally sarcastic demeanor, but Hermione was the only one who noticed. Ginny yelled at him to get out immediately, and went right for Hermione to learn some game tips. As Fred left, he caught Hermione's eye and he saw her eyes flash, seemingly with disappointment.

Dinner came and went, with the normal chaos that the twins bring. They had brought home a few items from the shop as presents, as well as some things that they needed to work on. "Here you go, little brother." George said, as he handed Ron a tin of Magical Moustache Miracle Stubble Grow.

"We heard you were having trouble." Fred added, facetiously. Ron blushed, and gave a retort, but placed the tin in his pocket, much to the uproarious laughter from the twins. After that, they all slowly resigned to bed. Fred stayed, hoping Hermione would turn in late, but soon after Molly and Arthur Weasley left, she told the group she was going to work on schoolwork, and sleepily headed off towards bed. By the time he and George left, just Harry and Ginny were left alone. Fred laughed, turned toward his twin, and whispered, "Smartass." before heading off to their room.

* * *

**A/N:** **A couple things:** _I feel like I've gotta talk about some things. I don't have a very deep knowledge of Harry Potter or the Harry Potter Universe, but I micromanage like I do. Basically what this means is that chapters will probably be slow coming because it's really hard for me to think of places to take this without totally clashing with the rest of the HP Universe. That said, I'm putting a lot of effort into making sure this isn't _Harry Potter and the Things His Friends Do in their Off Tim_e so there will be little to no mention of Harry or Voldemort to any pivotal extent._

_Something I'm mulling around currently is the idea to start writing about Hermione and Fred at Hogwarts, starting with Hermione as a first year. What I love about pre-DH is the wizardy, high schooly, petty drama of it, and I want to write about Fremione in that setting. That being said, I'm not sure how to go about it. If you've got any suggestions, feel free to send me a message. _

_Anywho I hope you liked this first chapter, and forgive this long Author's Note!_


	2. The Rematch

The night the Weasley twins returned, two discoveries had been made. The first was that Ronald Weasley was surprisingly good at football, winning every round the family played that night. The second realization was made by Hermione Granger and Fred Weasley, who discovered an altogether unrecognizable feeling of attraction for each other. In the kitchen, the family sat around the dining table, enjoying one of Molly Weasley's homemade breakfasts. Although it had only been a day, Mrs. Weasley had no plans for the girls, and Hermione planned on using that day to spend time with Harry and Ron. She sat at the table between her two friends, and while the rest argued about the legitimacy of Ron's football skills, she focused on not looking Fred's way.

"All I'm saying is that we can't know for sure you didn't enchant the ball!" Ginny said with an exaggerated shrug of her shoulders. She had lost every round against Ron. She stabbed at her food while Ron's full mouth gaped open. Before he could speak, the twins spoke up.

"Ron couldn't enchant a quill," George said with a grin.

"How could he enchant a ball?" Fred finished. He pulled Ron into a lighthearted headlock, but was pushed off.

"Shove off," He said, and swallowed his food. "Look Gin, face it. I'm just better than you at football. Ask Harry, he taught us after all! It's not my fault you- Ow!" A very irate Ginny kicked his shin. "Bloody hell!"

"It was just muddy! Besides, I could kick your arse any day in Quidditch!"

"You better watch your mouth, Ginny Weasley!" Mrs. Weasley reprimanded. "Harry dear, how do you like your eggs?"

"Fine, thanks." Harry said, finishing another mouthful. If there was one thing Molly would make sure Harry wasn't, it was hungry. When breakfast had finished and the table was cleared, the trio decided to separate and go for a walk.

Outside, the air was crisp and chilled. There was this bite to it, which Hermione had always preferred over warmth. To her, the chilly air seemed to keep her alert and on her toes. The three had made their way through the garden, stopping to look at the frogs and perhaps catching a glimpse of one of the gnomes that inhabited the Weasley garden. After failing to find any, they headed towards nowhere in particular, heading into the Orchard. Ron lead the way, and they talked about school.

"How have you two not gotten any work done yet? You must be mental." Despite her distractions, Hermione had managed to get some assignments done the night before. "Don't think you'll get by on my homework." She warned, but was only half hearted. She was the reason Ron and Harry passed, even if they got on her nerves.

"Hermione you're the smartest of us." Harry said.

"He's right. Besides, we haven't had the time for work yet. It's only a three days into the holidays. We'll get it done. In the meantime, Harry and I have to work on our football skills, isn't that right Harry?" Ron pulled back a low branch for the two to walk through.

"Ron, you know I'm not an expert at it. What I do know, though, is that you definitely broke some rules yesterday." He grinned. "I ought to tell Ginny…"

"Don't you dare!" They came upon a small pond, which was swimming with frogs. "Hermione, where were you yesterday? I figured you would know how to play."

"I do. I've played every summer since I was younger. My parents had me on a team as a way to make friends." She smiled, but thought about how to answer his question. "And I was getting work done yesterday. Unless you want me to come wipe the field with you later." As they walked and talked, Hermione thought about the day before. She thought about how they had acted, like lovesick puppies. Her heart kicked up just thinking about him casually standing in the doorway of Ginny's room. He was tall and handsome, and had always been nice to her, but it was the first time she had ever regarded him as anything other than Ron's brother. Internally, she sighed. This is when she was thankful for the alert, crisp air. There just wasn't time for things like this, and besides, it was just him being as nice as always. The more she thought, the more she decided that she had read too far into the situation. It seemed like the best course of action for Hermione, was to push Fred far to the edge of her mind. They continued for a few hours, but finally turned around to head home for lunch. As they neared the burrow, the loud, booming sound of someone's voice could be heard in the distance.

Even from a couple stories below, yelling could be heard from the twins room. Mrs. Weasley, who had already complained to her sons, resolved to just use ear plugs for the moment, as per the suggestion of her husband. Arthur Weasley, who didn't mind the noise, was reading a two year old muggle newspaper, and thoroughly enjoying it. Upstairs, the twins were working on the voice projector that Fred had been testing the day before. Half-heartedly, Fred scribbled notes down on some paper while George tried different enchantments on the item. "How about this?" As he yelled, sparks flew from out of the item on his lapel. Molly Weasley was thankful she didn't have any neighbors for her kids to annoy. "Still no." Fred sighed, and offhandedly put out the sparks. "Why don't we take a break?" George knew Fred was in a sour mood. Since the day before, Fred had been mopey and generally harshing his mood. He had told him about what happened with Hermione at the shop yesterday, and while George humored his brother, he was not surprised. Fred had never been as nice to anyone as he was to Hermione, except maybe George. George sighed, and placed the product on the table nearest them, and sat down next to his brother.

"This is the only time I'm giving you to be such a twit." He said. "So make it fast." The twins shared everything like they shared their DNA. Even if Fred had wanted to hide what happened from George, it wouldn't be long before he found out. Just like Fred, George had always fancied himself perceptive of people, and that went double for his twin.

"She hasn't even looked at me. What the hell was I thinking?" Fred took out his frustration on an old pillow, turning it, for a short time, into a gerbil.

"It's been, what, 12 hours? Did you expect she'd be having your children by now?" The gerbil was now what looked like a small whomping willow. George returned it to it's natural pillow state before it could destroy anything.

By lunch, Bill Weasley and Fleur had finally arrived. While everyone was away, Ginny had gone into her father's stash of muggle books to find any information on football. "Ronald Weasley!" She had shouted, when the three returned from their walk. "I want a rematch!" This time Hermione, who now regretted admitting her football skills, found herself dressed in football clothes. It had taken some time for Mrs. Weasley to get the clothes right, having to learn what they looked like just from description, but she eventually conjured cleats, shorts, and a jersey for everyone to wear.

She was the striker on her team, since she had the most experience, meaning she'd be shooting the ball the most. Ginny was midfield, with Bill on defense, and George playing goalie. On the other team was Ron as striker, Fred as goalie, Harry as midfield, and Arthur Weasley was defense, but was just excited that his kids were finally interested in something muggle-related. Fleur volunteered to be referee, despite knowing next to nothing about the game. Ginny had given her the book while the family got dressed, but Fleur had very cutely declined to read it. Instead, Mrs. Weasley referenced the book, and would be paying attention. "We need a… coin toss?" Mrs. Weasley asked.

"Basically we just flip a coin, and whoever calls the side it lands on kicks first." Hermione said. "I don't have any coins though."

"I do." Fred offered up a small coin, and handed it to Molly. After Hermione won, the players took to the field.

Without hesitation, Hermione's competitiveness kicked in. Instead of passing to Ginny, Hermione took advantage of her opportunity and ran forward. Ron was quick to try and steal the ball, but she turned to block him, and passed to Ginny who had run up behind him. The two passed, dodging Harry and Mr. Weasley and as soon as she got to the goal, she took the shot, which flew right by Fred's head. They set the ball back in the center for the kick-off, but this time, the other team was ready. Ron managed to take control of the ball and pass it back to Harry, who passed it back to Ron before Ginny could grab it. Their organization was short lived, though, and before Ron could shoot towards George, Hermione took the ball back and began racing towards the other side of the field. Again, she and Ginny ran up, avoiding the not-so-agile defense. When she took the shot this time, Fred had managed to jump and catch it, much to everyone's surprise. "What, you guys thought all I could do was be a bludger?" He yelled, and kicked the ball as far as he could towards Ron. Before she or Ginny could reach him, Ron scored a goal past George, who dove, but missed. The next few plays of the game ended in fouls, and Hermione gradually became more and more agitated. Each time she went for the goal, Fred was there to catch it. Half time was called, and the players took a small break, covered in mud. "We have to beat them!" Ginny yelled, kicking the ground. Hermione said nothing, fuming quietly. The only two people in high spirits still were Bill and George, who were trying to decide how to distract the other team.

Reconvening on the field, Hermione and Ginny were as determined as ever. At the kick off, Hermione got an aggressive hold over the ball, and ran up the field. As she ran, Ron caught up with her, attempting to steal the ball but failing as Hermione blocked and kicked the ball out of his reach. Ginny ran up and Hermione passed to her, very narrowly avoiding Harry. At the goal, Ginny passed back to Hermione. Fred was at the ready, low and wide to jump at a moment's notice. For just a second, she felt this wave a warmth run down her body as she saw him, but attributed that to the adrenaline. Suddenly, there was a loud yelling from what felt like a foot away from her."Come on then, shoot!" It yelled. Hermione looked around, and saw that on the other side of the field, George was waving his arms as sparks flew out of his general direction. "What are you waiting for?!" While everyone was looking at George, Hermione took the opportunity to kick the ball right towards Fred's stupid, cute face. She was not expecting it to collide directly with the ball, however. Everyone huddled around Fred, who held his nose and laid on the ground. "Bloody hell, Hermione." He moaned. As everyone, especially Mrs. Weasley, fawned over the fallen player, Fleur was the last to arrive on the scene. When she got there, she handed Hermione a very pretty and ornate red card. "Foul." She said, and gave a sheepish smile.

"You should be fine in a little bit." Mrs. Weasley said, putting her hands on her hips and standing over Fred, who had been moved to the living room couch. "Your nose is fine but you'll have to wait out the headache. No more football for now, and that goes for everyone. Now, how about some dinner?" She moved to the kitchen to start on the food. Fleur and Ginny followed to help, while Arthur Weasley and Bill resigned to clean up the field outside. Hermione was waiting for Ron and Harry in Ginny's room, being overrun with guilt. The only other time she had directly hurt someone was when she punched Draco Malfoy in the face, but that had been more rewarding than anything. While everyone was fixing up Fred, she had retreated to work on homework, and even though she had her books open and her quill out, she had done next to nothing. The two boys came in, but apparently didn't see Hermione's worried look, because Ron's smile had never been bigger.

"Hermione I could kiss you! You weren't even on my team but any tie is worth seeing Fred get hit in the face. What was that thing George had? Is that normal, Harry?"

"Not usually, no. I don't know what that was." Harry said, taking a seat on Hermione's bed. "He's fine."

"Who cares if he's fine? That was bloody brilliant!"

"I'm glad you're so happy Ron." She said, coldly. His humour was not helping. "I've already finished a few things," Motioning towards the school work, she stood up. "I'm going to go check on Fred."

The rest of the house was buzzing. The girls were in the kitchen preparing food, though now that Fleur was here Ginny could relax, and Bill and Mr. Weasley were still outside. The light outside had become orange as the sun was beginning to set, and in through all the windows rays of light beamed in casting a cozy feeling on the house. Hermione caught a glimpse of how gorgeous it was outside before turning into the living room, where she found Fred and George.

"Come back for more, eh?" George said, smiling at Hermione. He was sat on a green armchair next to the couch Fred laid on. "If you're going to incapacitate my brother any more at least know the spells to fix them." He was joking, but Hermione's guilt grew. "It's my best asset, you know." Fred said, his arm covering his eyes.

"What?" Hermione replied, brushing a bit of hair behind her ear.

"My face, it's my best asset, and now you've gone and ruined it. I'm hideous now."

"To be fair," George interjected. "You were always pretty hideous."

"Such talk coming from you." He replied, removing his arm from his face. He looked directly at Hermione and smirked. "Now that I think about it, maybe you actually did me a service, Hermione Granger." He turned and looked at his brother. "You're looking at the handsome twin now, brother." George shook his head and stood up.

"Probably your best joke yet. I'm going to go make sure Ron's head managed to fit through the doorway." He started to walk out, but stopped to pick up the football from the floor and added, "Although I can appreciate some good slapstick, I'll just hold onto this." He winked, and finally left the room, leaving Fred and Hermione alone.

After a few moments of silence, finally Hermione started. "I'm sorry. I really didn't mean to hit you in the face. I just got so caught up and then George with that loud thing- which I totally did not plan and-" Hermione was interrupted by Fred's laughing.

"You think I don't know that sodding git's antics when they happen? I am the brains of our operation, you know." He sat up and smiled up at Hermione, who smiled in relief. "You were quite impressive out there, though. You should have seen Ron at halftime. He was going mental, he thought you were using magic, I told him 'No, she's just better than you'." Hermione blushed at the compliment. She couldn't remember a time Fred had ever complimented anyone like that.

"You were quite the goalie." She said.

"Eh it's just like quidditch. Following the ball and whatnot. You'd be a force to be reckoned with at quidditch, come to think of it."

Hermione, forgetting all apprehension, sat down on the chair George had left. "Flying. Not really my thing." She shrugged.

"Oh really- something Hermione Granger isn't good at?" Hearing him say her name like that made her smile. He said it like he held her in such high regard. Impressing him seemed like such an achievement.

"No I'm good at it, I got high marks!" Laughing, she replied.

"Oh of course, of course." Fred chuckled and leaned towards his side of the couch, comfortably. "It's just not your thing."

"Yes, exactly. I'm a big fan of having my feet on the ground. After seeing Harry's arm our second year after he fell off his broom I just… no."

"That was bad, wasn't it? Gilderoy tried to fix it and ended up removing the bones in his arm." Fred moved his arm, imitating the floppiness of Harry's after Gilderoy's failed mending attempt. Hermione laughed and turned her head.

"Absolutely traumatizing. And he was so cool about it! You should have seen him in Madam Pomfrey's, it's like he didn't even notice it happened." It all felt so easy today, for both of them. Yesterday had been all electric and intense, but now it was casual and easy. Fred dropped his arm, and smiled at Hermione, and then remembered something.

"Didn't you end up at Pomfrey's that year too?" He asked, remembering seeing her there on the Maurader's Map all that time ago. Hermione gasped and went wide-eyed.

"How did you know? Ron, Harry and I didn't tell anyone about that, and I'm sure Madam Pomfrey didn't tell you."

Fred sat up straight, put his right hand over his heart and his left in the air. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." He said, and then relaxed.

"The map." She replied. "It's a long story."

"I think we have the time." He said. He was right. Bill and Arthur were both still outside, and it didn't sound like Mrs. Weasley would be finished anytime soon. "Think of it as payback for doing me in."

She sighed, reluctant to answer. "Well, that's the year the Chamber of Secrets was opened, remember? 'The heir of slytherin beware', and all that. Well Harry, Ron, and I needed to find some stuff out about Draco so we used the polyjuice potion. Harry as Goyle, Ron as Crabbe, and I…" She paused, and sighed again. "I was supposed to be Millicent, which didn't go as planned."

"How not as planned?" Fred asked, loving the story.

"I ended up… partially transforming into a cat." Promptly, she hid her face in her hands and laughed. "I was in Madam Pomfrey's until after the Holidays." Fred's laugh was so loud she thought he had put on the voice projector.

"It's not funny! Totally not funny!" She lightly hit Fred's arm, who recoiled, but continued laughing.

"I'm sorry it's just, you managed to make a polyjuice potion as a second year but got partially transformed into a cat. Of course you see the humour here!" Hermione started to laugh as well.

"Nope! No humour, just my pain. You're terrible for laughing!" She said, but continued her giggling. After a while, the laughter had died down and it had gone quiet.

"I really am sorry for kicking that ball in your face."

"Don't worry about it, I've gotten much worse from a bludger, easy." The smell of Mrs. Weasley's cooking started to waft in from the kitchen. Hermione realized suddenly that she was actually quite hungry, having worked off what little breakfast she ate playing football. As the conversation died out, the two of them didn't seem to notice. Fred enjoyed the comfortable silence by stealing looks at Hermione, who seemed to be far off in thought. The sun was hitting the horizon now, and the light was beginning to dull. The only place light was still coming in was through the western window, and it hit Hermione in a delicate way. She glowed in front of him, her brown hair sparkling gold, her skin lighting up in a way he'd never seen. He could see the wheels turning in her head, and he felt like if he knew any spells that could stop time and let him take this moment in forever, he would use them right now. But he didn't know any spells, so instead he just watched until Fleur danced out of the kitchen to announce that the food was ready before going off to tell the news to the two men outside. Reluctantly, Fred let his moment go and stood up while Hermione did the same. They were the first two at the table and, unthinkingly, ended sitting next to each other. One by one, the rest of the house made their way to the table. When George entered the room, he was very unsurprised to see Fred and Hermione next to each other, giggling away. He took his seat next to Fred, and continued badgering Ron.

That night, Hermione found it hard to sleep. The room was quiet but far from still, with the moving pictures of quidditch players on the wall. After dinner, everyone had sat at the table for a long time, just talking. There was such an ease here, and she knew that even if Harry's home wasn't with his awful family, he would still spend his Holidays here. She couldn't help but hope that Mrs. Weasley had made her a sweater like the rest of them. She smiled at that thought until she was startled by a quiet voice.

"Hermione, come to the garden." It said. She was ready to blame some dark magic until it said, "Don't bring any footballs with you." Quietly, she stood up, her breath getting caught in her lungs from excitement. Putting on a heavy jacket over her pj's and slipping on some slippers, Hermione stealthily exited Ginny's room.

Outside was even colder than before, just on the edge of snowing. As soon as she entered the garden, the sound of quiet, croaking frogs was prominent. Behind her, a voice said, "Lumos." and the garden around her was lit up just a bit more.

"I thought you'd want to see this." He said. He stopped in front of her, and motioned for her to walk with him. It was incredibly overgrown, this garden. Vines grew from every direction, making it look more like one large mass of greenery rather than a separate garden. She recognized a few things that grew there, mostly from her reading and her classes from year one. She followed Fred and his light towards this little clearing, and it was there that she saw the brownish creature.

"A gnome!" She whispered, recognizing it instantly. She had only read about them, but remembered the pictures she had seen.

"That's right." Fred nodded, and pulled a small box out of his pajama pocket. "They love these things." An incredulous Hermione watched as he threw Bertie Bott's jellybeans down at the little creature, who ate them up quickly. "This one here is Buttermere, isn't that right?" The gnome nodded and smiled, very obviously hoping for more jellybeans. Fred handed box to Hermione. "Technically we're supposed to run them out of here. But dad likes 'em and I think they're fun." Hermione threw down a piece of candy. "Plus they drive mum crazy." Hermione lightly hit him in the arm.

"You give your mother so much trouble, you know." She said, throwing down the last of the jellybeans.

"Ah but she loves it. George and I, we give life adventure." He grinned, and watched as the gnome searched Hermione for more, while she laughed. "They generally don't bite."

When Buttermere saw that there were no more candies, he scampered down what looked like a small mole hill, leaving just the two of them.

"You got the voice projector working?" She asked as Fred began to walk.

"You noticed. It's quite clever. George was actually the one to get it working but he didn't have a good use for it." They walked towards a small bench and sat down, listening to the frogs croak in the distance. She noticed that all around them were statues of gnomes, but not the kind she had just seen. They were those jolly, bearded gnomes that muggles liked.

"Do the bearded kind exist?" She asked.

"Do what? Oh these?" Fred poked a small statue of one near his feet. "Dad reckons they keep the real ones away, but they don't really. I think he just used that as an excuse so mum wouldn't get rid of them. She hates the damn things, bearded or not." Hermione laughed, but was a little disappointed they didn't exist. "Ah, now's the real fun." Fred looked out towards the small clearing, but where there once was just one mole hill, there was now several. From the ground, out popped more gnomes, each laughing with this mischievous little chuckle. They ran around, grabbing the little jolly statues and returning them to the ground. "They actually love the things, think they're just hilarious. Sometimes they'll just pop out like this and take some, and once they get tired of them they'll get rid of them wherever. I ran into one way out in the cornfield once, just sitting there." They both laughed, watching as the little creatures ran about clumsily, until they all returned back underground.

"And your dad just keeps bringing them home?" She asked, turning towards Fred in the darkness.

"Every month he comes home with more. No idea how."

It began to snow then, just small flakes at first. It was a very calm snow, without any wind. Slowly, Fred let his wand's light dim, and they're eyes adjusted to the peaceful darkness in just a few minutes.

"Hermione Granger." He said. Hermione smiled, but said nothing. The two just sat there, enjoying the same comfortable silence as before, half because neither knew what to say, and half because any sound except the croaking frogs would seem like shouting. As the wind began to pick up and the snowfall begin to get heavier, they made their way back inside.

* * *

**A/N:** Do me a favor and leave me a review letting me know what you think. I'm very open to criticism considering I have some other things I'm working on and want to improve.

Thanks for reading! Chapter 3 is on it's way.


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